Fodder Production and Grassland Management

BURNING OF GRASS LANDS

• Setting fire to dry vegetation in order to encourage new growth after the next monsoon rains, is a wide spread practice in many parts of India.
• It is a convenient method of removing unutilized herbage residues of the previous year so that, a new growth of vegetation may develop unhindered and become available to grazing animals.
• It is also helpful in eradicating undesirable weeds and shrubby growths that may compete with desirable grasses and legumes.
• Burning is also helpful in encouraging an early spring growth of grasses and discouraging encroachment of jungle growths. In humid high rainfall areas, burning may not be very harmful, but in semi-arid regions burning is definitely harmful.